1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates in general to the cultivation of soil. More particularly, the invention relates to cultivating, seeding and fertilizing soil on terrain with steep slopes.
2. Description of the Related Art
In the prior art various types of apparatus have been used for cultivating or tilling soil. Endless track type vehicles mounted with scraper blades have been used to cultivate soil on various types of terrain. Rubber tired or endless track type tractors have also been used to pull tillage implements, such as plows and harrows, to prepare and work soil for subsequent fertilization and planting operations.
For sowing and bedding grass seed onto relatively level terrain the typical conventional procedure involves first cultivating the soil with a tractor having the appropriate tillage implement and then driving the same or different tractor over the cultivated soil to broadcast seed and/or spread fertilizer onto the soil. A conventional tractor can also be used to pull a harrow or other soil tillage implement to smooth the soil and/or bed the seed and fertilizer into it.
Conventional rubber tired or crawler type apparatus for the cultivation, sowing, fertilizing and bedding operations are not suited for use on terrain with steep slopes, such as slopes of 50% or more grades. A conventional crawler type bulldozer, for example, when operating on grades above about 50% must move in a direction parallel to the slope, i.e. either uphill or downhill, for safety purposes. Such a dozer cannot operate on 100% (45.degree.) grades. On grades on the order of 50% the conventional dozers in a sidehill orientation, i.e. perpendicular to the slope, either cannot operate at all or do so in a highly unsafe mode.
Hydroseeding is the principal conventional method for sowing grass seed onto steep slopes. In the hydroseeding method a mixture of seed and water is pumped through a nozzle to spread the mixture over the slopes. However, the hydroseeding method is relatively expensive, and because of equipment limitations such as the requisite tank truck, pump and hose the area of application is limited to about a 100-foot radius from the hose nozzle.
The need has been recognized for soil cultivating apparatus which obviates the foregoing and other limitations and disadvantages of prior art cultivation apparatus and procedures. Despite the various cultivation apparatus in the prior art, there has heretofore not been provided a suitable and attractive solution to these problems.